20 Barrels - 2017 - Matias Rios

100% Pinot Noir, from the Casablanca Valley appellation, 85% of which comes from the El Triangulo vineyard site and 15% from the Campo Lindo parcel (“pretty field” in English!). The vines are planted on red clay and granite soils and are farmed using sustainable agriculture. Harvested by hand in March 2017. The vinification is respectful of the grapes, with 14 months of maturation in barrels and casks, then one month of blending in stainless steel tanks. Bottled in July 2018, with moderate use of sulphites.

Matias Rios is in charge of all vinifications at the Cono Sur estate, one of the most emblematic vineyards not only in Chile but the entire New World. Joining the estate in 2003, he would play a major role in its conversion to organic viticulture, as well as the overall sustainable, responsible and ecological development of the estate. In the same way Matias’s vinifications seem to gain in precision with every vintage, the pioneering advances at Cono Sur seem to be part of a natural evolution for an estate with an already rich history, intimately linked to that of Pinot Noir in Chile. In fact, the estate was founded around the first parcels of Pinot Noir in Chile, planted in the Colchagua Valley, a region already recognised in the 1960s as being ideal for the cultivation of the grape variety. Still today, while the estate produces many other cuvées, its Pinot remains a major focus. And don’t expect any imitations of another estate’s style, French or otherwise. As one of their mottos goes, "No family trees, no dusty bottles, just quality wine". Cono Sur's gamble has paid off: whether it’s an accessible or a more complex cuvée, these wines live up to their promises.